The Superlatively Yes Podcast · Tanya Smith and Jennifer McCroddan

Rest Isn't Just Sleep, Ya'll

·48 min·3 clips

It is 2025; why do we not have self-cleaning toilets?

Tanya Smith welcomes listeners back to the Superlatively Yes podcast with Jen McCrodden beside her, both running on caffeine and the hope of a nap. They frame episode 172 around rest: the kind you need after peopling too hard, the kind you can't find at the DMV, and the kind that is not solved by just going to bed earlier. The conversation starts in their usual warm, slightly chaotic rhythm. They ask for a micro pity party. They joke about quitting some things. Tanya says she woke up and, once again, was not a millionaire, which sets the tone for a chat that is funny without losing the point. The mood is light, but the subject is real: ordinary life can leave people more depleted than they want to admit. They talk about their sleep routines, including the sound machine and Tanya's special water by the bed. That detail matters because it shows how much work already goes into rest before they even get to the bigger question: what counts as rest besides sleep? The episode keeps circling that question instead of flattening it into one answer. One kind they name is medical rest. Tanya says she does not just mean recovery after surgery. She means the rest people need when they have autoimmune issues, a bug going through them, or just the accumulated wear and tear of life. She admits she has spent much of her life pushing through, and now wants the dignity of lying down when her body asks for it. That turns into a story about Verna visiting on a Sunday afternoon while the house was full of people and Tanya stepping away to sleep for three hours. The moment is funny, but it also becomes proof that her body was asking for something she had been ignoring. Jen responds with the same easy honesty, making it clear that nobody is expecting Tanya to run at full volume forever. The exchange keeps the episode feeling like a real conversation between close friends rather than a lecture about self-care. They are not dramatizing collapse; they are normalizing the need to pause. The other type of rest they name is friendship rest. They describe it as a kind of rest that comes from being with people you love. It is not the same as sleeping alone, and it is not the same as solitary quiet. It is the exhale that happens when the right people are present and the pressure drops a little. That distinction gives the episode its shape. The hosts move easily between joking, confessing, and clarifying. One moment they are talking about routine and comfort. The next they are naming bodily limits. Then they are back in the comedy of being tired in a world that keeps asking for more anyway. There is also a strong sense of permission running underneath everything. They keep suggesting that rest is not something you only earn after total exhaustion. Sometimes it is something you need before that point. They never make the message stiff or formal because they keep it grounded in small, specific details: naps, sound machines, special water, houseguests, and the absurdity of adult life. The close is classic Superlatively Yes. They ask for a review, preferably a written one. They remind listeners to subscribe. They send people to the website and Instagram. They end with a practical, bright blessing: rest well, love big, drink water, cancel something, stop overthinking dinner, and say yes to what really matters. The result is a conversational episode that treats rest as both joke and need. It does not solve burnout. It does something smaller and more useful: it names the kinds of rest people keep missing and makes them feel normal enough to claim.

As heard by us

A funny, practical conversation about rest, from peopling fatigue to the need for real downtime.

This episode treats rest as something ordinary and a little messy, which suits Tanya Smith and Jen McCrodden well. They move from caffeine, naps, and not being a millionaire into a more grounded look at what real downtime can mean, including rest after too much peopling, medical…

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Why you'd press play

You need a reset that is not just going to bed earlier.

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